No Bears, But A Few Birds And Butterflies In The Penn Forest Tract Of The Weiser State Forest

I decided to hike in  the  Penn Forest Tract of the Weiser State Forest  early Sunday morning. I was again on a quest to find a bear.   I had hiked in the Susquehanna Wetlands in record breaking heat the two previous days.   A cold front with some heavy thunderstorms came through overnight and  it was a cloudy and cooler morning when I arrived at  the  Weiser State Forest.

 I began my hike at the  Sawmill Trail. The trail head is  located  on Stony Mountain Road just off of Route 903 in Penn Forest Township.  There was another  car in the parking lot, not a good thing if you are looking for bear.   I began my  hike on wide dirt road that took me through a mostly oak and maple woodland . The  Weiser State Forest consists of  16 tracts in Carbon, Columbia, Dauphin, Northumberland, and Schuylkill counties.  The 958 Penn Forest tract  is   in Carbon County.  It’s trail pass through a number of different habitats and ecosystems.

I had hiked on this same trail last year on the 4th of July. I remembered all of the milkweeds plants along the trail. They were still here and I hoped they would attract butterflies later in the day. The butterflies and other insects would have to dry their wings after the heavy rains before they could fly and visit the milkweed,

and  daisy fleabane flowers growing along the trail. Both of these wildflowers are native to Pennsylvania.

There were a few red efts , the  terrestrial stage of the eastern newt, crawling on the trail. They don’t mind getting drenched in the rain.

I also heard some re-eyed vireo, oven birds and this eastern wood pewee while  I walked through the lush green woodlands.

Many ferns grow along the trail, these are lighter green hay-scented ferns and darker green and larger cinnamon ferns,

 bracken ferns,

and these sensitive ferns.

I walked  out about a 1/2 mile on the  Sawmill Trail and then followed the Penn Forest.

There were now more pitch pine and hemlock trees but it was still mostly an oak forest.

After about another 1/2 mile in the forest I came to a patch of Norway Spruce trees.

As I approached the spruce trees I saw a male scarlet tanager, singing

and feeding on caterpillars  in the trees along the trail.

On  my hikes this Spring and Summer I haven’t seen  any Blackburnian warblers. I usually see them in the deep woods on the trail to Bruce Lake  in Wayne County. Or in  the woods in the State Game Lands around Tank Hollow in Carbon County.  I didn’t see any  this year.On   past hikes in the Penn Forest Tract I have seen  these pretty and elusive birds in this grove of Norway Spruce trees. And I  was glad when I did again.

This one was  also feeding on insects , probably caterpillars in the trees along the trail.

After watching th Blackburnian warbler I walked a  short distance and to the Fire Break Trail. This is one of my favorite hiking trails in the area.  The trail is narrower  and covered in grass.  It passes through a mixed oak and pitch pine woodland.

It reminds me of the woodlands near my home which I hiked for many hours in my youth. I love the wind contorted pitch pines  that grow along the trail.

I saw this Amanita mushroom growing on the trail, a good sign for me. I love to search for edible wild mushrooms. I don’t gather the few  edible species of Amanita mushrooms since many are poisonous and some are deadly.

I walked through the pitch pine trees , hearing the familiar song and calls of  a few eastern towhees , this male proudly displaying a large  lacewing he captured,

and which he may share with this nearby female.

I also saw some pine warblers in the pine trees and

this  colorful chestnut sided warbler.

I also saw a few  other  common song birds, a common yellowthroat,

this  ovenbird,

and I was surprised to see this male grosbeak in the mostly pine woodland. I usually see them in more mature oak forest.

I continued on the Fired Break Trail until I reached the Powerline Trail which followed a utility line through a wetland area.

As I have mentioned in previous blog I enjoy this trail since I had hiked on two utility power line rights of way in my area when I was young. Both of these pole lines  took me through some wetland areas, where I spent picked many high bush blueberries. There were alot of  high bush  blueberries and ,

black huckleberry bushes along this pole line, but,  not a lot of berries, unfortunately the utility company sprayed the pole line to kill the vegetation so there weren’t many berries and, even if there were I would not recommend eating them. This was a big disappointment since I had hoped to find a lot of berries since black bears love to eat them. I have seen many black bears in wetlands with high bush blueberries or as we called them, “swampers”.

Interrrupted ferns, and

American cow wheat flowers also grew in the wetlands along the trail.

I was surprised that the only birds I saw were a few black and white warblers,

and field sparrows. I  had seen many more songs birds on my previous walks on this trail.

Many tiny blue Summer azure butterflies fluttered above the ground on the trail.

This wood frog  hopped across the trail.

I followed the Powerline Trail until I was out about 2 1/2 miles when I came to the Rebold Trail which took me back to the Penn Forest trail.

I liked this trail because of the many larch trees growing here.

I saw this white tail deer watching my as I  walked past.

I saw another white tail deer when I got back on the Penn Forest Trail. I didn’t see any other humans on my five mile hike.

Invasive bull thistle and

St. John’s Wort flowers grew along the trail.

I walked back  as the July sun began to filter through the trees.

I was hoping the sun and warmer temperatures would bring out the insects  in the patches of milkweed flowers along the trail.  I was hoping to see some monarchs and fritillary butterflies but I only saw spice bush swallowtail butterflies

visiting the milkweed flowers.  There were dozens of them.

I also saw this pretty  northern pearly butterfly.

They only other birds I saw on my hike back to the parking lot were some black-capped chickadees feeding in the trees along the trail.    Here is a  link to  a gallery on my blog web-page with some more photos of the birds I saw on my five mile hike. Weiser State Forest Penn Forest birds July 5 2026.

It was  nearing noon when I finished my five mile hike. It was another day of over seven miles of hiking. In my younger years I would have stayed out until dark. Not any more I was tired and hungry and thirsty so I ended my hike, spending the afternoon watching the Phillies,  editing photos and watching the deer in my back yard. .  Now,  in my older years a good way to spend a Summer  Sunday afternoon .  Here is a  link to  a gallery on my blog web-page with some more photos  from my five mile hike. Weiser  State Forest Penn Forest July5 2026

“To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles” – Marie Davis